The next time you’re thinking about hiring a private soccer coach, more violin lessons or a new video game, take the kids for a walk in the woods instead. Inject a little nature on your next vacation too, even if you’re heading to New York City (how about a long walk through Central Park?) or Orlando (get up close and personal with the manatees, or go fishing). You’ll all be the better for it. …
A polar bear sighting (we’ll see 16 before the week is out), a whale (two enormous blue whales swam and played right by the ship), sea birds (imagine thousands nesting on high cliffs) or walrus (60 of the huge creatures weighing a ton or more lolling right in front of us on a beach) are all reason enough jump out of bed, bolt from lunch, forgo a shower or get off the ship’s treadmill. It’s why the 145 guests have paid thousands of dollars and traveled thousands of miles to cruise through ice.
Maine is ideal for an old-fashioned family vacation with plenty of modern touches. Indulge your young foodies at Portland restaurants ( www.visitportland.com) or shop till you drop in Freeport, home of L.L. Bean and more than 200 retail outlets. Eat blueberry pancakes (the season starts in mid-July). Head out on an old-fashioned schooner for a few days, like we did one summer aboard the Isaac H. Evans, where we ate our fill of fresh lobster on a deserted island, or explore Acadia National Park and hike some of the famous Appalachian Trail.
Though we’re just a 30-minute drive from Jacksonville International Airport, and plenty of nonstop flights from major cities like New York and Atlanta, we might as well be on another planet with long, deserted beaches, lots of wildlife and clear, warm water. It feels more like the South, though, than South Florida, with canopies of trees and locals who seem happy to live life in the slow lane.
The scientists are mostly under the age of 10. Welcome to the new “Treasures of the Earth” exhibition here at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, launched in partnership with the National Geographic Society and world-renowned archaeologists, at the largest children’s museum in the country, which draws well over a million visitors a year to Indy.
The Continental Army. Here in the heart of historic Philadelphia on a steamy summer day, we’ve time traveled back to the heady days of the American Revolution, the drafting of the Declaration of Independence and the making of Betsy Ross’ famous flag sewn at the request of General George Washington — all right where it all happened — thanks to 30 terrific costumed “History Makers,” as well as 40 first-rate storytellers from the nonprofit Historic Philadelphia organization .
A growing number of ultra deluxe resorts around the world, which once never saw kids or barely tolerated their presence, have changed their tune as more wealthy parents are bringing their kids along. The good news for those of us without unlimited resources: Choose your dates wisely and you may be able to vacation like the rich and famous
This summer, if you are willing to fly, you may find a better deal in the Caribbean or even Hawaii than in traditional beach resort towns like Newport, R.I., or Cape Cod, Mass. In fact, when Travelocity named summer’s Top 10 family destinations, after Orlando, they included Cancun and Puerta Vallerta, the Hawaiian Islands, the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos and the Dominican Republic.
According to recent polls from Travelocity and Orbitz, Orlando is the number one destination for families this summer. It is affordable with some of the summer’s best room rates (plenty of hotels and condos under $100 a night and special deals for those in the U.S. military) and flights. And we all know you won’t run out of things to do
Sometimes in our rush to take the kids to see major museums and historic sites, we skip smaller cities like Baltimore — ideally located 40 minutes north of Washington, D.C., and 90 minutes south of Philadelphia — that are not only easily navigable (even free buses) but can be easier on our wallets.
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